The subject matter of the present disclosure broadly relates to the art of vehicle suspension systems and, more particularly, to end members including multiple reflecting surfaces for use with an associated sensing device as well as gas spring assemblies including such end members and suspension systems including one of more of such gas spring assemblies.
The subject matter of the present disclosure finds particular application and use in conjunction with suspension systems of wheeled vehicles, and will be shown and described herein with reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the subject matter of the present disclosure is also amenable to other applications and environments, and that the specific uses shown and described herein are merely exemplary. For example, the subject matter of the present disclosure could be used in support structures, height adjusting systems and actuators associated with industrial machinery, components thereof and/or other such equipment. Accordingly, the subject matter of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to use associated with vehicle suspensions.
Gas suspension systems for vehicles are known to provide the capability of adjusting the height and/or alignment (i.e., leveling) of the sprung mass (e.g., a body or chassis) of a vehicle relative to the unsprung mass (e.g., a wheel-engaging feature or axle housing) thereof. To enable gas spring assemblies of the gas suspension system to be suitably adjusted to a desired height or alignment, height sensing devices are commonly used in association therewith. As such, a wide variety of height sensing devices are known to be used in association with vehicle suspension systems, such as mechanically-linked potentiometers and magnetic proximity/position sensors, for example.
Another type of height sensor that is commonly used in association with vehicle suspension systems operates by sending and receiving ultrasonic waves. Typically, the ultrasonic sensor will broadcast a series of ultrasonic waves toward a target area that is suitable for reflecting the waves back to or toward the sensor, which typically also receives the reflected waves. In some cases, a duration of time required for the ultrasonic waves to travel to the target area and back can be used to calculate or otherwise determine the distance traveled, which can be related to the height of the gas spring or other associated components.
One difficulty with the use of known ultrasonic sensing systems involves the direction in which the reflected waves travel. That is, an ultrasonic sensor or sensing device will normally include an ultrasonic wave transmitting portion and an ultrasonic wave receiving portion. While these two portions can be mounted separately and/or apart from one another, in many constructions the transmitting and receiving portions are mounted within a common housing. As such, it is desirable for the ultrasonic waves to be reflected, from their origin at the sensing device, more or less directly back to the sensing device to be received by the receiving portion.
The foregoing operational constraint is normally not problematic in suspension systems in which the target area moves in relative alignment to or with the sensing device. However, in some suspension systems the target area may move in and out of alignment or otherwise become misaligned with the sensing device. Under such operating conditions, the orientation and/or alignment of the target area may be misaligned with the sensing device. Thus, the ultrasonic waves may not be reflected back toward the ultrasonic wave receiving portion of the sensing device. In some cases, such conditions can lead to the ultrasonic waves not being received by the sensing portion of the sensing device, which can, in turn, result in unreliable output by the ultrasonic height sensing device or even a lack of operation of the ultrasonic height sensing system for the duration of the misalignment or at least a portion thereof.
Accordingly, it is believed desirable to develop a reflector for a gas spring assembly that is capable of improving the operation and performance of ultrasonic height sensing systems and/or is otherwise adapted to overcome the foregoing and/or other disadvantages of known constructions while comparable or improved performance, promoting relatively low costs of manufacture, ease of assembly, ease of installation and/or otherwise advancing the art of gas spring devices and suspension systems including the same.